1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical area of network telephony systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Call center technology is generally well-known in the art. It is also well-known that existing systems fail to combine the features of geographical redundancy and non-interruptible operation in case of natural disaster.
Existing solutions known to the inventors fail to combine the features of geographical redundancy and non-interruptable operation in case of natural disaster. Description of existing solutions herein does not necessarily imply that the solutions described are publically known, but may be know only to the Applicants. Some system are known to the inventors that can provide non-interruptable operation if all call center components are located at the same geographical place. Those systems function in high availability mode and ensure that the call center continues to operate if one of the redundant components fails. This requirement to have redundant components in the same location is caused by a need to organize a cluster, which contains redundant components, and to synchronize large amount of data between them. If location with the call center components becomes unavailable, then the call center stops functioning completely.
Other systems known to the inventors allow an enterprise to deploy redundant call center components in different locations. So if one location becomes non operational the call center can continue to operate using the components installed at the other site. In this case the call center becomes non-operational for the duration of a switchover process, which may include time to detect the failure, to redirect incoming calls to the new site and to reconnect all operational agents. This time maybe significant enough to negatively impact the call center business.
What is clearly needed is a solution that allows an enterprise to avoid interruptions in the operation of a distributed call center if any of the facilities where call center components are deployed becomes unavailable.